With its Super Famicom-esque face buttons, the New Nintendo 3DS is already rocking the retro in a big way. But if you’d like your portable console to look even more old-school, this fully functional Game & Watch-themed faceplate from Japanese gadget and accessory maker Colombus Circle is sure to do the trick!

In what may be one of the most impressive Nintendo homages – not to mention a timely tribute to the late Satoru Iwata who passed away earlier this month – we’ve ever seen, a talented and Nintendo-obsessed father recently built a completely Mario Kart 8-themed nursery for his newborn son.

The final product is truly impressive; covering all four walls and even the ceiling (this is Mario Kart 8 after all!) with a giant mural models and props, he transports his little boy to the magical world of Nintendo.

It has been five days since Satoru Iwata, the much beloved president of Nintendo, tragically passed away, and fans have been dealing with the sudden loss in numerous different ways – some with written messages, some with heartrending art.

They say there are five stages of grief that people may go through in times like this: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. However, according to an anonymous dissertation circulating around Line, someone found the magic whistle and warped all the way to grief stage 6: accusation of an omnipotent clandestine society.

Since Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata’spassing a few days ago, fans around the world have been paying their respects to the Nintendo giant with a landslide of drawings and messages. Players of the team-based online game Splatoon have especially embraced this trend, leading to an outpouring of in-game tributes to the beloved president.

With the unfortunate passing of Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata this past week, thousands of kind words and tributes have been posted online to thank a wonderful man for all his hard work. An outpouring of beautifully drawn pictures from gamers around the world honored his memory. The tributes were not limited to words and art though, as a video game musician who worked with Iwata on a number of projects released a remix of the Balloon Fight theme song for his close and dearly missed friend.

If, like me, you grew up playing Super Mario Bros. on the NES, then you’re no doubt super excited for the launch of Super Mario Maker this coming September. Exclusive to Wii U, the game allows players to build their own worlds, using every block, enemy and power-up (plus a few new ones) from a whole host of Super Mario games, then share them with players all around the world.

For those of us who never quite gave up on our childhood dream of making games for Nintendo especially, Super Mario Maker is shaping up to be the ultimate celebration of 30 years of Mario, and the thought of throwing all your favourite bad guys into bizarre platforming situations has us positively giddy with excitement.

With that in mind, today we’ve decided to take a quick look at some of the characters we know and love from the Mario franchise. To spice things up, though, we’re going to be introducing you to their original Japanese names and explaining a little about the meanings behind them. Think you know Mario? Let’s find out!

Since Iwata’s death, there has been an outpouring of support from those who have been touched by the games he personally worked on and the projects he oversaw during his lifetime. Many fans have created stunning – and in some cases downright heartbreaking – tributes to Mr. Iwata, and tweeted them to share with others affected by his passing.

Here we have a compilation of some of the tributes we’ve seen, so you can get the same gut-wrenching smiles of sadness from looking at them that we did.

This morning, Nintendo released a statement that the company’s much-beloved president and CEO, Satoru Iwata, died in hospital on July 11 due to medical complications arising from a bile duct tumor that had been discovered some time before. Iwata was the first person to assume the role of president at the company who was not immediately related to members of the Yamauchi founding family.

We recently revealed news of a Hello Kitty movie in the pipeline, which in turn made us wonder if there would ever be a Pokémon live-action movie. There’s already a series of Pokémon animated movies, and with such a huge following, it would make sense to release a live-action version bringing all of the franchise’s beloved characters to life.

It would make for impressive entertainment for children and adults alike, and a live-action movie with real actors and suited characters would like something like this.

If you are learning to be a game designer, there isn’t a better game to study then the original Super Mario Bros. Even though Mario will be celebrating his 30th anniversary this September, he is still one of the best known if not the most well-known video game characters in the world.

Recently, master video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto shared some of the original drawings they made when designing the first Super Mario Bros. And along with the cool art, there is a ton of very valuable information for anyone who wants to learn about video games and level design.

Nintendo’s Splatoon, a new IP for Wii U, was released in May to wide critical and user acclaim. Apparently the combo of squid and kid is a winner; who’d have thought it?

However, while the title being exclusive to the Wii U has been helping to boost hardware sales for Nintendo, PC gamers who are unwilling or unable to shell out for a new console have been left out of the loop. But for those desperate for some inky multiplayer action, there’s a free option coming to PC soon: Splat Fortress.

While there are definitely some upsides to being a child, growing up isn’t all bad, especially when you can find ways to incorporate the things you loved as a kid into your adult life. For example, there’s that new Pokémon lifestyle magazine that’s written for fully grown, productive members of society.

And should you be a Pokémon-loving man or woman who heads to the store to buy the magazine’s latest issues, you don’t even need to pay cash, since now you can just whip out a Pikachu credit card.

Gamers, what is it for you that makes a game great? Is it the plot or storyline? The visuals? Characters? Great games undoubtedly need a bit of all of the above, but the music is especially important, since it will stick with you even when you switch off the console or finish the game entirely.

Some songs are beautifully moving, while others are unbeatably catchy, a good example of which would be the music from the Legend of Zelda games. So, of course, what could be better than a medley of all the best Zelda tunes? What about a mind-blowingly crazy one done on the piano?

The famous Pokémon tagline, “Gotta catch ‘em all,” really only covers half of the franchise’s theme. As any fan will tell you, after catching the adorable combatants, the next step is to train them, making them stronger and stronger until your menagerie is powerful enough that you become a true Pokémon Master, and maybe even the best in the world.

That’s the setup for just about every video game and anime in the series, and Pokémon is now such a cultural phenomenon that there are indeed national and even worldwide tournaments for the game. This raises the question, though: When a mother’s son or daughter says, “Mom, I did it! I become a Pokémon Master,” how should she respond?

The Pokémon series spends a lot of time focusing on how its adorable fighting monsters become stronger as they gain experience, but what about their human trainers? Sure, they may not be throwing any punches, but the core characters of the anime and video game franchise leave home at an early age to wander the world on foot and subdue wild beasts that, cute as they may be, can breathe fire, produce high-voltage electricity blasts, and squirt poison.

You have to figure the child mortality rate for would-be Pokémon Masters is astronomical, and those kids that do survive would become incredibly fit by nature of all death-defying physical activity their lifestyle demands. So maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised that retailer Bandai has just announced a shirtless figure of one of the most well-known human beings in the Pokémon universe, and it turns out he’s pretty ripped.

Roughly half an hour south of Tokyo by train, the city of Yokohama is a great place to hang out in the summer. The city boasts great dining and beautiful parks, plus most of its attractions are located near the harbor, which is regularly caressed by cooling breezes.

Of course, it’s not just people who enjoy heading down to the bayside capital of Kanagawa Prefecture, but Pokémon as well. Just like they did last year, packs of Pikachus will be spending their summer vacation in Yokohama, and the first ad for their upcoming visit gives us a taste of what’s in store.

Nintendo has announced that Super Mario Maker, its extensive Mario-themed level creator software for Wii U, will go on sale from September 11 this year. A new Amiibo figure and level designer’s guide book are also scheduled for release.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 30 years since Nintendo first unveiled Super Mario Bros. on the original Japanese NES, or Famicon as it’s known in Japan. With over 200 games and counting, Super Mario has become the best selling video game franchise of all time. We’ve seen the video game icon get sucked into the Mushroom Kingdom to save Princess Peach on countless occasions, and become a legendary go-kart racer and sports athlete, as recapped here.

Mario’s been used to sell everything from Mercedes to Converse, and this time, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the industry-changing Super Mario Bros. video game, Tower Records is teaming up with Mario for a special limited edition cafe and summer sale at participating stores.

Nintendo and Bandai are two of Japan’s biggest companies with the former really needing no introduction. Although Bandai (now under the auspices of Bandai Namco) is not quite the household name that Nintendo is, its name should be instantly recognizable to even modest video game and toy fans.

As such, you might expect these two organizations to be cold, merciless machines of corporate greed pursuing nothing but the fuel of money to continue their heartless existences…and you might be right. However, here is a small anecdote that says different in a classy chance exchange between these two titans of toys.